Hold on there Bald Eagle. Why are we always in such a hurry? What’s the rush to reduce the number of clicks? Why not make people think? In movies, and in comic books, time and pace are as important as action. So in thirty short minutes, Andy Clarke investigates ways to stretch time using visual design to make more compelling web pages that keep people thinking — for longer.

Our industry has aged into double digits, but much of the language we use to describe what we do and how things work is borrowed or repurposed, sometimes without issue, but often leading to confusion. Having a distinct set of terminology is an important sign of maturity for a line of work, those words and phrases to lead the next generation of practitioners — and it’s high time we set about creating it.

Trying to define or explain inspiration is really difficult. Inspiration is an essential phase in our design process as it is where the creation is ignited. How can inspiration be triggered? Are there ways to find out how inspiration works? How can we break a creativity block? There might not be black and white answers to these questions, but by sharing some analyses with practical examples we might find inspiration easier.

Art direction and editorial design are two terms that have been the butt of many debates, discussions and arguments on the web recently. Folks seem to have been caught up with the granular semantics of the terms, and how they may relate to the way we present content on the internet. Greg will be attempting to answer the question that people should be asking: do the great unwashed public actually care about the way their content is presented? Does art direction & editorial design on the web actually work?

Deep in the recesses of the brain lies the most ancient of all our faculties: The Lizard brain; It’s a mysterious place of snap judgements and life-saving instincts. Design can reach it, but first let’s understand it, and maybe get to know ourselves and our audience along the way.

Recent developments in web technologies like HTML5 and CSS3 have allowed us to build a richer web, full of advanced visual treatments like web fonts, animations, transformations, and drop-shadows. But have we got carried away with our new toys? Just because we can use a drop-shadow doesn’t mean we have to. In this new and often controversial talk, Elliot looks at solid design principles that will turn a good website into a great website, examines the scenarios where it’s better to stay away from unnecessary visual effects, and attempts to find the sweet spot in between the two extremes. "With great power comes great responsibility," said Uncle Ben, and Spidey hadn’t even used border-radius!

In the real world, responsive design is nothing new. Products adapt to our needs. Technology monitors local environments to adjust lighting, temperature and even physical spaces. But what about web? In designing with words, the desire to bind content to a device has been around as long as there have been books. Mark will take you from desire to implementation, from theory to practice. How can we build upon what we know from literally hundreds of years of responsive design practice to define a new era of online publishing? An era where we strive for the same level of human / technology connection that started with the monks.